Carson: Trump was ‘quite somber’ when he sensed victory
Dr. Ben Carson says that when Donald Trump was starting to sense victory in Tuesday’s presidential election, the future president-elect was remarkably reserved.
“He was quite somber,” Carson told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric on Wednesday, “I think really reflecting on the tremendous responsibility that was going to be on his shoulders. He was not leaping for joy — he was much more contemplative.”
The retired neurosurgeon said the surprisingly tentative tone is a preview of what Trump’s White House will look like.
“He wanted to wait until we had all the results in before making any definitive statements,” Carson said. “I think that kind of shows and gives us some insight into what kind of president he’s going to be. I don’t think he’s going to go off half-cocked. I think he’s going to be waiting, listening, weighing options, talking to people. And I think that’s one of the inappropriate impressions people have gotten about him, that he’s sort of brash and impulsive. And he really isn’t.”
Trump’s ability to stay more or less on message during the campaign’s final weeks, Carson said, is proof of that.
“He really was much more contained and really didn’t chase down any rabbit holes, didn’t respond to every accusation that was made about him, and acted in a much more presidential way,” the soft-spoken surgeon said. “And I think we’re going to see much more of that.”
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Carson ran against Trump in the 2016 GOP primary before dropping out of the race, endorsing him and becoming a high-profile surrogate. His campaign against Trump was at times tense: Trump once even compared his supposed aggression to an incurable child molester.
But Carson is solidly aboard the Trump train now.
Carson told Couric that he thinks the former “Celebrity Apprentice” star will make “a real attempt to reach out to be conciliatory.”
During his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump made no mention of some of the inflammatory policy proposals he made during the race, including his vow to build a wall along the U.S. southern border, institute a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States and assign a special prosecutor to investigate his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
But Carson said that Trump isn’t hell-bent on pursuing those plans entirely.
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“I think he’s very attached to the policy behind the statement,” Carson said, “but not necessarily the letter of the statement. So when you’re talking about building a wall, it may not necessarily be bricks and mortar all the way. It may be utilizing, you know, double fences with asphalt in between. It may be a combination of barriers and people and electronics. But the key is to secure our borders.”
Carson said he suspects Trump’s pursuit of criminal charges against Clinton “won’t be a high priority.”
Then again, he mused the real estate mogul might use that threat as leverage.
“He is a negotiator. He wrote ‘The Art of the Deal,'” Carson said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted to sit down with her and talk about maybe some influence she might have [with Democrats] and be able to get some things through.”
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(Cover tile photo: John Locher/AP)
